ONE OF RINGLEADERS IN USD GAME-FIXING GETS 2½ YEARS

Bettor in basketball scheme issues an apology to the university

San Diego 
Exactly two years after he and nine other defendants were arrested, bettor Paul Thweni was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison Thursday for his role in a scheme to fix basketball games at the University of San Diego.

“I want to apologize mostly to the University of San Diego,” Thweni, 28, quietly told U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia moments before his sentence was ordered. “It’s a great university. I’m sorry they had to be dragged through this.”

Thweni, identified as one of three “primary” defendants, is the seventh person to be sentenced in the case.

Richard Garmo is scheduled for sentencing next Thursday. Charges against the remaining two defendants, Lilian Goria and former UC Riverside player Brandon Dowdy, were dismissed Thursday.

Thweni was sentenced to the same prison term as Steve Goria, who along with Thweni and Garmo were considered the scheme’s ringleaders.

Thweni’s attorney, Victor Torres, had argued for probation. He wrote in court documents: “Paul Thweni is a man who medicated his ailing body and his aching soul with medical marijuana and alcohol to the point of associating with Steve Goria, a violent and manipulative man who became the mastermind of a cockeyed plan to win bets gambling on a college basketball team.”

The initial indictment included charges of marijuana distribution, an illegal sports gambling operation and a game-fixing scheme involving USD. Thweni, Goria and Garmo all pleaded guilty last summer to the game-fixing portion.

“No one is saying the (three) were particularly smart,” Battaglia said Thursday. “It may have been an ill-conceived plan, but it was criminal.”

Goria recently was released from a halfway house and is working. Thweni will begin serving his sentence April 19.

So far, they have received the longest sentences in the case. Brandon Johnson, USD’s all-time scorer who was accused of fixing several games during the 2009-10 season, was sentenced to six months in prison. T.J. Brown, a former USD assistant coach who was intermediary between the bettors and Johnson, was sentenced to 12 months.

Richard Thweni, Paul’s older brother, was also indicted in the case. He was considered to have a lesser role and was released last September based on time served.

Dowdy, who started his career at USD before transferring, was the only other former player indicted. He allegedly was contacted about fixing games at UC Riverside late in the 2010-11 season, but no games are believed to have been fixed.

On Thursday, Battaglia granted the prosecution’s motion to dismiss its case against Dowdy.